Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Get out the bubbly and the fancy glasses! We've got some FANTASTIC news to share today!

First up - our very own Jessica Hart and Barbara Hannay have been named finalists for this year's RITA award in Series Contemporary Romance! Way to go! Jessica's Last Minute Proposal and Barbara's Adopted: Outback Baby got the nod today! The award will be handed out at the RITA ceremony at RWA National Conference, this July in Washington DC.

Congratulations Jessica and Barb!

And in keeping with the awards season theme, Liz Fielding has been listed as a finalist in the Colorado Award of Excellence with her Romance, Wedded in a Whirlwind! Yay Liz!

Donna Alward has also finaled in Love Romances and More's 2008 Golden Rose Awards, with The Soldier's Homecoming up for Best Category Romance! This is a contest where the readers get to have their say: Polls are open here for voting.

And one other very special bit of news this week. There's another brand new addition to the Harlequin Romance family - author Barbara Wallace, whose journey to publication is an inspiration to all aspiring romance authors out there. Barbara will be back later with info on her debut release including the title and release date. Until then,

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

All Six of the Diamond Brides books - that's all of the February Romance releases - are on sale in e-book format on eharlequin in their St. Patrick's Day Pot o' Gold Sale. Buy them as a bundle of all six and save a WHOPPING 50%!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Michelle Douglas joins us this week on how she delves into the wonderful world of Character!

I remember the very first time I discovered character questionnaires. Actually I was given one by a writer’s group I once belonged to. Yes! I was so excited. This was the tool that would finally turn me into a real writer. I clutched it in my hot little hand and raced home. I grabbed pen and paper, started to answer the questions... and promptly fell asleep.

Oh Good Lord! Who cares what colour eyes, hair and skin my heroine has? Weight? What do you mean, weight? I’m not going to divulge my heroine’s exact dimensions. I mean... how unromantic. On and on it went – height, distinguishing facial features, birthmarks and scars, characteristic gestures and mannerisms, way of walking...

I dropped my head to my hands convinced I was wasting my time. Did it really matter who my heroine’s best friend in fourth grade was? Or how many pets my hero had between the ages of 4 and 16? So what if my heroine prefers strappy heels to gym shoes? Does any of this really matter?

At first my answer to that was a resounding, No.

But then my mind started ticking over. What if the heroine’s best friend since fourth grade has gone missing and that’s the reason the heroine ends up in the hero’s tiny town in the Outback? What if the hero is a vet and between the ages of 4 and 16 the only pet he had was a dog...and what if that dog died and he couldn’t save it and from that moment on he was determined to become a vet, even though it meant defying his father? What if, in the opening scene, it’s raining, the heroine’s car is bogged, and she doesn’t own a pair of gym shoes let alone Wellington boots?

Hmm... okay then, some questions do matter, but how was I going to decide which ones to ask? It took me a long time to work it out, but I discovered the answer depended entirely on the context in which I approached the questions.

Let’s tackle questions about physical description first. Other than the fact that we don’t want our heroine’s eye colour changing from blue to brown halfway through the story, who cares what colour her eyes, hair, and skin are? There’s one person who cares and he cares a whole lot – the hero. He’s fascinated by the colour of her eyes, mesmerised by the way her hair shines in the sun... and he can’t get the exact shade of her skin out of his mind – is it the colour of peaches and cream, or more English rose? If she’d stop ranting at him and moved into the light a little more then perhaps he could work it out. Only if she moves into the light that glossy hair of hers is going to distract him all over again.

See what I’ve done? I’ve asked the hero to describe the heroine for me. I like to ask him to:a) describe the heroine the very first moment he sees herb) describe her looking her worst,c) describe her looking her best.Then I get the heroine to answer the same questions for the hero. What’s more, I get her to tell me how she thinks the hero sees her at each of those moments above.

These descriptions now contain a power my boring checklist lacked. They work because they not only tell me something about the heroine, they tell me something about the hero too. I’m not only discovering what my heroine looks like, but my hero’s physical and/or emotional responses to her too. The descriptions now start to sizzle with emotional punch. And if I want to look at this in a purely practical light, these descriptions add to my word count – I can use them in my books.

How else can character questionnaires be useful? Sometimes I just like to play with them. They can, on occasion, help me generate plot ideas – as in the instance above with the heroine stuck in the outback looking for her best friend since fourth grade, getting soaked in the pouring rain in her high heels. For some reason I’m finding this an intriguing opening, but at the moment that’s all it is – an opening. I need to flesh it out. So I start asking questions. And do I have favourite questions I like to ask my characters? You bet – these ones especially:What do you want?Why do you want it?What’s stopping you from getting it?

What my characters want throughout the course of the story can change so these are questions I ask my characters at the beginning of chapter one, end of chapter three, and usually again at the end of chapter seven (for some reason these are the points in the story where I need to double check that I’m on the same page as my characters). My characters usually want more than one thing too – so I list them all. My heroine wants to find her missing best friend, but she also wants to become managing director for her software firm in Sydney. She’s not going to find that an easy goal to accomplish while she’s stuck in the outback. Hence, Plan A is to find her best friend and hightail it back to the city as soon as she can.

I also like to ask my characters:What do you want relationship-wise?Why do you want that?What prevents you from achieving this?If my heroine is hell bent on never getting married, then I want to know why. I’m writing a romance so she’s going to have to overcome her reservations about marriage at some stage. Which leads to a very important question:What will you learn, how will you change?Sometimes I don’t discover the answer to this question until after I’ve finished the book. Sometimes it’s not having the answers that matter, just knowing the right questions to ask that keep me writing.

Some time ago, I stumbled upon a set of questions in a book called Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen (Writers Digest Books, 1999). I love these questions – and I hate them – because I find them SO hard to answer. But I find, once I’ve answered them to my satisfaction, everything falls into place.

Placing the Obstacle, from Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen (pg 30)“What would make the attainment of my character’s goal the most difficult?” Once this has been identified, the central obstacle in the story will become much clearer.In Casablanca seeing Ilsa safe means that Rick must let her go.

“What is my character’s greatest weakness?” Exploiting this vulnerability will provide a rich source of drama.Hamlet’s course of action is clear – expose his uncle. His weakness is his indecisiveness.

“What is my character’s greatest fear?” To draw the most depth from your protagonists, they must face their greatest fears.In Vertigo, Scottie’s greatest fear is high places, yet he must go into the bell tower to expose the murderer.

“What is my character’s greatest strength?” This will give you a clue as to how your protagonist will eventually overcome the obstacle.In The Fountainhead, Howard Roarke is able to succeed only through the tremendous force and conviction of his principles.

Kernen claims that, Answering these four questions should point you at the right obstacle that will give your story the greatest drama and create the utmost tension.

And that’s what we’re in the business of – giving our readers a darn good story. Drama and tension are vital in a darn good story.

I’ve listed the ways character questionnaires (or simply asking my characters questions) have helped me with characterisation, plotting and building drama and tension in my stories. If I searched there would probably be other benefits I could add to the list. I’m of the opinion that anything that helps me to write is a damn fine thing – whether that’s filling out character questionnaires, creating a collage, or making a soundtrack for my novel... whatever. My challenge to you is if at first a seemingly useful tool doesn’t work... can you think up a new approach that brings it to life and makes it relevant for the way you work? If and when you do, don’t forget to share it with the rest of us!

Be sure to grab Michelle's current release, The Aristocrat and the Single Mom - out this month!

Monday, March 09, 2009

Most Australians like to think they have a strong connection with the Outback.

We’re proud of our country’s amazing red centre and its reputation for unusual rugged beauty and danger. But in reality, 90% of Australians live in cities along the coast.

So, if we don’t live in the Outback, why does it fill us with nostalgia?

The truth is, other brave souls are living the Outback life for us.

And this is why I love writing about these people. They are larger than our lives. They are living the life... living the legend... for the rest of us.

While we city folk couldn’t cope without our convenience stores and our coffee shops around the corner, people in the outback cope year after year with not only isolation, but droughts, floods and bushfires... They embody the image of man against the elements.

When I read about their resilience and toughness, I feel stronger... uplifted.

However, the big appeal of writing Outback romances is that I get to create the rugged Outback heroes. For me, the special appeal of these guys lies beyond the obvious allure of a sexy, naughty-boy grin and a toned, fit and athletic body. I love the powerful emotions hidden behind all their brashness and toughness. I love it that their feelings run deep.

And I love to see these loners - these remote, strong and silent men - brought to their knees when they admit that they can’t deny their feelings any longer. And I know that any heroine, who manages to penetrate the outer shield to expose her Outback hero’s tender feelings, wins a rare prize indeed.

This brings me to the other important character, the heroine. The Outback has a reputation for breeding men’s men. Women don’t really fit in... so Outback heroines have an extra big challenge, and it seems they know these guys are worth it.

Of course, an Outback heroine must be a strong match for the toughest Outback man. A woman who is weak or helpless just won’t cut it in the bush. In this isolated, often harsh, hot and dusty environment, heroines must be strong and self reliant. They need to show initiative and a sense of humour.

By the time an Outback hero has expressed his love or proposed marriage, the heroine will have demonstrated that she has the strength of character to face up to the demands of his lifestyle. The fact that a woman can give up the comfort and convenience of city life for the hardship and isolation of the Outback is perhaps the strongest testimony to the appeal of the Outback man.

But any woman who marries an Outback hero is marrying a man who is much more than a simple cowboy. An Outback hero is a true man for all seasons. He can keep house and cook, he often has a university degree, he likes to travel the world and can provide for his family. He looks just as comfortable in an Armani tuxedo when he hosts a ball on the sweeping lawns that surround his homestead, or escorts a beautiful woman to the Sydney Opera House, as he does in blue jeans and riding boots while he risks his neck on horseback leaping down gullies after wild, cleanskin cattle.

Like his real life counterparts, he’s living the legend.

For us.

Barbara Hannay won the 2007 RITA award for her Outback romance, Claiming His Family. In this month’s release, Her Cattleman Boss, English girl Kate Brodie and Outback cattleman Noah Carmody take on severe drought and the threat of losing their property, by droving their cattle thousands of kilometres to market, and there’s plenty of adventure and romance along the way.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Brady Randell has always been a rebel. Even now, injured out of the air force, he's a dark presence on the Randell ranch. But enter lovely Lindsey Stafford, and a glint appears in the headstrong pilot's eye.

Despite her innocence, Lindsey takes Brady's brooding nature in her stride. But her arrival has rocked the Randell family to the core. She has secrets that could destroy them. Now it's up to Brady to fight once more. Not for his country this time, but for the woman who's found a place in his heart.

Princess Regina Vittorio must soon leave her beloved kingdom of Castelmare and become queen of another realm. Gina has devoted her life to royal duty, but as the day of her arranged wedding approaches, she wants just one moment with the man she loves….

Royal gardener Dizo Fornese has watched Princess Regina blossom like the roses he tends at the palace. He knows she is untouchable, but he has one chance to risk all—and claim his princess bride!

Nathan Mallory hasn't set eyes on Phelix Bradbury since they conveniently wed. When they meet at an international business conference eight years on, Nathan is intrigued when he sees that Phelix is still wearing her wedding ring….

Now a successful lawyer with the independence she's always craved, Phelix is not the same shy, mousy teenager Nathan knew, but a confident and stylish woman. And her transformation certainly hasn't escaped the English tycoon's notice….

When Kate Brodie inherits half a run-down cattle station, she doesn't expect to have a sexy cattleman boss to contend with!

Noah Carmody doesn't need a city girl like Kate trying her pretty hand at Outback life, but he's a single dad now, and Kate's the only person within a hundred miles who'll help him restore Radnor to its former glory. So he'll grudgingly show her the ropes….As they toil together under the Outback sun, romance should be the last thing on their minds…shouldn't it?

Handsome English aristocrat Lord Simon Morton-Blake is reluctant to get involved with anyone on his visit to Australia—especially a single mother like Kate Petherbridge! But Simon can't deny his attraction to vivacious Kate, or refuse her offer of a place to stay.

Thrown into the middle of Kate's lively family, Simon finds his buttoned-up manner slowly undone. A happy family isn't something Simon's known before, but he's starting to realize there's one ready-made, just for him….

Take a look at life and love from Simon's point of view…read Simon's blog.